Tuesday, 22 March 2016

Let's Build An Exodite Army!

Welp, clearly painting space marines has gotten to me. Fun as they are, there's only so many times you can paint silver and black, or red blue and white, before it gets tiring. Even with more than a few custom edits, alterations and personal touches, there's no denying they're oddly basic in a lot of ways. Flat surfaces, big bold shapes and easy to nail guns aren't all that engaging after a while, and you can only paint a Rhino so many times before you get tired of flat surfaces. So, after talking to a friend, i'm taking a stab at the eldar instead, specifically to bring my own craftworld Yin-Sarr to life.

However, as you might have noted if you took the time to read the lengthy post - and thank you indeed to those who did - it's not the easiest army to adapt to the tabletop. The alien serf races alone would cause no end of problems, and that's before getting to the strain on my wallet. So, instead this is a project which is going to tackle this idea on two fronts. One army is going to represent the craftworld itself via a small Battlefleet Gothic flotilla, and the other is going to be a small battalion of Exodites from the allied worlds.

Why the Exodites over just a small craftworld force? Honestly, why not. They're space amish ninja elves riding dinosaurs and carrying rayguns, what's not to love. Plus, if you ignore that one artwork which just has them kitted out in Guardian armour, they're easily one of the most unique looking forces in the game, part tribal remnant of a long gone empire. You can still re-use as much as you want from Craftworld or Dark Eldar units, but there's no end of High Elf, Dark Elf or Wood Elf bits and pieces which can be worked into their designs. Even if it's only going to be a 1,000 point force of perhaps three or four squads, it'll at least be a visually striking one.

Don't believe me? Well, here's one admittedly somewhat basic image which helped further inspire the start of this little project:

Yeah, it doesn't look like much at first, just some Shadow Warriors with shuriken and Scourge weapons. However, what's remarkable is how well they go together. So much of the basic Shadow Warrior design works as a basic eldar soldier look, and some of their more rustic elements can be put down to their lifestyle. Hell, the thing which stands out the most are the arms and legs, both of which can be easily switched out for eldar equivalents without much trouble. Not to mention that this is before we even get into the dinosaur part of things.

So, what's the plan here? Simply put, use them as a proxy for Codex: Eldar Craftworlds, with many warriors and basic units serving as substitutes for existing models. Having re-read the book recently, it's not all that hard to pull off, as quite a few Aspect Warriors fit neatly into Exodite tactics and general unit types. The sneakier hunters fit in well with Striking Scorpions, many of their laser equipped beasts of burden can take the place of weapons platforms, and the same can be said of Wraithlords. Most importantly though, the Dragon Knights and their charging strikes can easily be substituted for Shining Spears, and there's still plenty of Cold One Knights around to be modified or altered to look eldary. This also comes with the added bonus of creating an extremely fluffy army which is completely bereft of Wraithguard and Wave Serpents. You know, those things which make most people feel like they need a shower every time they read their stats. Well, even more than the rest of the codex anyway.

This is still in the early phases of course, but if you want a good idea of how the army is eventually going to shape up, here's a quick list:

1 Autarch, Power Weapon

1 Wraithlord, Starcannons

10 Striking Scorpions, Exarch

5 Shining Spears, Exarch

5 Shining Spears, Exarch

5 Dark Reapers 5, Exarch

... Look, it's a very rough idea, it's mostly just listing off general unit types and numbers.

Anyway, we'll probably be revisiting this a few more times in the months to come, hopefully showing how i'll be building these things bit by bit once things are gathered together. Until then, expect more of the usual review nonsense which is our wheelhouse here.